Address printing machine



Feb. 6,1934. J. KI Q ELL mnnass mumim ucams Filed Dec. 21. 1929 s sums-sheet 1 .Feb. 6, 1934. J. KRELL 1,945,643

ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21. 1929 :5 sheets-sheet 2 W- m w J/em/ Feb. 6, 1934. J. KRELL 1,945,643

ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21-. 1929 s Sheets-Sheet a Patented Feb. 6, 1934 1,945,843 ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE Joseph: mu, Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany Application December 21, 1929; Serial No. 415,704,

and

in Germany December 29, 1928 9 Claims. (CL 101-58) My invention relates to address or other printing machines, having a selector or skipping device, that is, a device in which the printing plates or stencils moving through the machine control the operation of the printing mechanism.

It is an object of my invention to provide a machine of the type referred to in which the plates to be printed may be selected independently of the setting of the machine, and without 10 manually operated contacts. I

To. this end I combine an address-printing machine having a selector or skipping device with a scanning device which is controlled'by what will be briefly referred to as cards", that is, a

file or register card for each correspondent which may be equipped with tabs, projections, holes or recesses. The scanning device is operatively connected with the mechanism for operating the address-printing machine. L

In machines of this type as designed heretofore the machine is set beforehand bymeans of manually operated contacts, or equivalent means, so that when the printing plates are fed through the machine certain groups of platesare printed while the others move through the machine without being printed, that is, are skipped.

However, it is often desirable to print any one of the plates which are moving through the machine, independently. of its setting, as required,

: for instance, for the correspondence of a certain day relating to transactions with certain of the addressees the addresses of all of whom are fed through the machine on the printing plates;

In systems for attending to a number of clients or addressees, it has already been proposed to pro-.

vide for each client a file card which may be perforated and contains his record, for instance, the

standing of his account; I

According to my invention the cards are moved through the machine in sequence together with the printing plates and select those printing plates for printing which correspond to given cards. In some\systems the cards are perforated and can be used without further preparation. File cards of the usual type must be provided with means for operating the selector.

The means for feeding the cards through the machine must be so designed as to move the cards, in the same sequence as the printing plates, that is, a printing plate must never move past the printing station before the corresponding card arrives at the scanning device.

"In reducing my invention to practice I provide a scanning device which is operated from the driving mechanism of the-printing machine, and

is controlled by the cards so asto permit only those printingplates tobe printed which c'orre- I v spond to the cards. Preferably the scanning device is an electpic multiple switch the contacts of which are connected in series with the con- 00 facts of the selector or skipping device for controlling the operating magnet. A certain saving of labour would be attained by arranging the cards in the sequence required, feeding them to the seaming device by hand, and removing them by hand after the corresponding plates have been printed, but obviously it is much more convenient to store the cards in the same or a similar manner, as the printing plates and to feed them step by step through the machine and past the scanning device. The means for feeding the cards must be so designed as to in- 4 troduce a card into the scanning device before the corresponding printing plate attains the, printing station. I may effect this by feeding the cards while the printing arm is on its downward stroke, and consequently before the printing plates are fed. On the other hand, a card. supplied to the scanning device must only be dischargedfrom the scanning device after the printing of the corresponding plate has at least been prepared.- In other words, each card must remain at, the scanning station until the corresponding plate has arrived at the printing station. The multiple switch of the selector or skipping device which is under the control of the printing plates, and the scanning device must "have their contacts subdivided into groups containing the numerals 0 to 9 for each digit, and the groups of contacts for the units, tens, etc. ,must be so arranged in series that the circuit of the controlling magnet which when excited, attracts its armature and advances the printing platen at the'printing arminto active position, is made by a pair of contacts in the groups of the mul tiple switch and the scanning device.

My invention also relates, to the printing plates of the machine on which the digits corresponding to the position of theprojections etc. on the plate for a given figure are marked initially so that the digit corresponding to a given projection etc. appears on the plate.

In-the accompanying drawings a machine embodying my invention, with its circuits,.printing plates and cards, is illustrated diagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawings a Fig. 1 is aperspective illustrationshowing the no important in connection with my invention,

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the scanning arm, with one of its contacts in active position.

Fig. 2a shows the scanning member, with one of its contacts in inactive position,

Fig. 3 is a section of the table across the track along which the printing plates are fed, showing one of the double contacts of the selector or skipping device,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a printing plate,

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a card,

Fig. 6 is a diagram of connections for the plate and card as shown in Figs. 4 and 5,

Fig. '1 'is a modified diagram of connections and Fig.8 is a plan view of a printing plate for the connections shown in Fig. 7.

Referring now to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1 to 3, b is the table of the machine, 1 is the usual printing arm, with a printing head platen 104 and means, not shown, for imparting to it rocking movement about a pivot 100. The means for rocking the arm 1 about its pivot are old in the art, may be of any suitable kind, such as a crank and connecting rod, and need not be described in detail. 2 is a supply hopper for the printing plates, 3, 4 is a track along which the plates 3 are fed to a printing station, 5, 6 is a slide for feeding the plates and 6' is a hole in the table b through which the plates 3 drop into a hopper, not shown. Reciprocation, as indicated by the arrow '7, is imparted to the feed slide 6 from the printing arm 1- by means of an extension 1' below the table b, a link 101, a bell 'crank 102, a link 103, and a bar 2'? which is ful crumed below the table b at 29. When the printing arm moves in upward direction the slide 6 moves in the direction of the arrow '7 to feed the plates 3 for the length of one plate, and when the printing arm moves in downward direction the slide 6 returns into its initial position for feeding the next plate upon the following upstroke of the printing arm. The position of bar 27 which corresponds to the initial position of the slide 6, is shown in, dot-and-dash lines. In this manner the printing plates are fed intermittently in time with the movements of the printing arm.

8 is theusual control magnet, as described, for instance, in my prior Patent 1,700,803, February 1929, for Addressing machine and similar printing machine. The control magnet, through its armature 39, when excited, engages and holds against movement the free end of a rocking arm 111 which is fulcrumed on the printing arm 1, and through a link 112, moves the printing platen into active position. When'the control magnet 8 is not excited it drops its armature 39, the arm 111 is not arrested, and the printing platen 104 remains'in its inactive position: the plate which is at th printing station 5, is skipped. Current is supplied to the control magnet 8 by a battery J. The control magnet, in turn, is controlled by the usual multiple switch a of the selector or skipping device. The multiple switchat the selector is equipped with contact-operating levers 9 on a shaft 9' which are rocked by projections 11 on the printing plates, Fig. 3, and operate contacts 40. 10 is a shaft which is' flattened on one side so as to act like a cam, as described in my prior Patent 1,816,733, July 28, 1931, for Printing machine. Each ,contact 40 has a pull-back spring 110, and a block 113 of insulating material is interposed between the movable contact table of the machine and the parts which are of the switch and the horizontal arm of lever 9. When the rod 10- presents'its flattened side to the arm, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3, the arms of all levers 9 are free to move, and the contacts 40 are opened by their springs 110. If, on the other hand, the rod 10 presents its full side to the horizontal arm, the arms of all levers are arrested, and the contacts 40 are closed. The rod 10 is rocked from the printing arm 1 through a link 105. 106 is an arm on rod 10, 12 is a link pivoted to the arm, and 13 is a contact, with a closing spring 14, to which the lower end of the link 12 is connected. Normally, the shaft 10 presents its full side, as shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 3, the contacts 40 are closed and the contact 13 is open.

15 is a track for the cards '16 which extends in parallel relation with the track '4 for the printing plates 3 which are stored in a supply hopper 19, fed past a selector station 20 by a slide 18, and dropped through a hole at the end of r the track 15. 22 is the scanning arm which is fulcrumed on the table b at 23. 21 is the scanning member at the free end of the arm. 22' is a downward extension of the scanning arm. The scanning arm 22 is operatively connected to the bar 27 for the feed of the printing plates. 28 is an extension beyond the pivot 29 of the bar 27 which is held in line with the bar by a spring 31 attached to a bracket 30 on the bar 27. 32 is a link pivoted to the extension 28. 108 is a bell crank to which the other end of the link is connected, and 109 is a link connecting the bell crank to the downward extension 22' of scanning arm 22. The free end of the bar extension 110 28 is pivotally connected to the feed slide for the cards 16. By these means, the cards 16 are fed, and the scanning arm 22 is rocked, in time 'with the operation of the printing arm 1 and the plate-feed slide 6. The cards are perforated at 17, the perforations extending along their edges, but they might also be arranged at right angles to the direction of feed. Instead of perforations, projections or tabs of any kind might be provided on the cards.

The scanning member 21 is provided with as many contact pins 24 as there are holes 17 in the cards 16. The pins are fitted to slide in insulated bushes of the scanning member 21,- springs 25 tending to force them out of the cavities in which they are carried and checks 41 are provided on the pins so as to be engaged from below by the scanning member 21. The pins form one terminail, and an insulated plate 26 forms the other terminal, of a circuit in which the battery J and l30 the control magnet 8 are included; The switches 13 and 40 are also in this circuit. The armature of the control magnet 8, controls a contact 38. This contact is in a circuit 3'7 of an electromagnet 35. The armature 34 of this electromagnet is provided with a spring 36 tending to push it away from the electromagnet, and into the path of the extension bar 28, locking the bar while the magnet 34 is deenergized.

The locking of the extension bardoes not interfere with the operation of the plate-feed slide 6 as the spring 31 yields when the bar 2'7 rocks about its pivot 29. When the magnet 35 is energized it retracts the armature 34 against the spring 36 and releases the bar extension 28 so that now the bars 2'7, 28 move like a single doublearmed lever.

Fig. 1 shows the parts in the position in which the printing arm 1 is in its uppermost position so that upon its downward stroke the plate 3 at the printing station is printed. When the printing arm 1 is in its uppermost position the shaft is in the full line position Fig. 3 with all those contacts 40 open which are not .held

5 closed by the arms 9 which are retained by the projections 11 on the printing plate. When the rod 10 moves into the full-line position, with its fiat side presented to the horizontal arms of levers 9, and the contacts 40 have opened, the contact 1 13'is closed by arm 106 and link 12. When the printing arm 1 is in its uppermost position, the scanning arm "22 is in its lowermost position. The pins 24 whichregister with holes in a card '18 make contact at 26, Fig. 2, while the others-are l5. retained by the solid material of the cards, Fig. 2a. .The card which is at the scanning station correspondsto the plate at the printing stae tion 5. The circuit of the control magnet 8 is closed at 24, 26, 40 and 13. The control magnet 2 now attracts its armature 39 and arrests the lower end of arm 111, causing the platen 104 to move into printing position as described, in the usual manner. At the same time, the armature closes the contact 38, making the circuit oi. the

electromagnet and causing the armature 34 to release the extension bar 28. The arm 1 now descends to print the plate 3 at the station 5 while at the same time the plate-feed slide 6 is moved against the arrow 7, and the card-teed lide 18 30 is moved in, the,opposite direction, arr w 33.

Before. its end strikes the last card the extension bar 28, through the system 32, 108, 109 has raised the scanning arm 22 and pulled the contact pins 24 out of the holes in the cards by the 85 checks 41 so that upon further movement of the card-teed slide 15 the next card can be moved to the scanning station 20. In other words, the card-feed slide has a stroke which is somewhat in excess of the length of a card-in order topermil: the withdrawal of the pins 24, before the next' card is fed. It will be understoodtrom this description that the card-feeding means and the scanning'means are interconnected so that the cards 16 are fed while the printing arm 1 descends 45 and the printing plates 3 are at rest. The descending printing arm turns the bell crank '102 clockwise and moves the bar 27 with the plate feeding slide 6 to the right into the dot-and-dash line position, Fig. 1. As the extension 28 has been released by the armature 34 of electromagnet 35, the bar- 27 and the extension 28 rock about the pivot 29 like a rigid member and the card-feeding slide moves in opposite direction to, the platefeeding slide. while the cards are fed. The printing arm 1 now performs its upward stroke and the plate-feed slide 6 (unless fixed for repeated printing of the same plate) moves another printing plate to the printing station 2. At the same time the shaft 63 10 of the multiple switch a is moved into the position shown in'dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 3, opening the contact 13, andclosing all contacts 40 in the usual manner, breaking the circuit of the control magnet 8 and causing it to drop its arma- 65 ture 39. This opens the contact 38 and de-energizes the electromagnet 35 so that its armature 34 is moved into locking position with respect to the extension 28 by-the spring 36.

If the card which gets to the scanning station 1;; 20 is not one which corresponds to the printing plate at the printing station 5, that is, if this plate must be skipped, the circuit of the control' magnet 8 is not closed when the printing arm 1 is in its uppermost position as the pins 24 which s move through the holes inthe card, are not in The printing plates are at rest its initial position at the end of the track 3 by the bar 27, while the extension 28 remains in its arrested position, and tension is puton the spring 31. The cards are not fed and the scanning arm 22 is not operated; This condition remains unaltered while the printing arm 1 continues its rocking movement,-until a printing plate 3 are rives at the station 5 which corresponds to the card 6 which is at the scanning station 20. The plate is then printed and the card is fed, as described. I

InFig. 1 the cards have been shown with one or two perforations only -for the sake of convenience but in realitythey are provided with as *many perforations or other elementsas the figtire to be printed has digits. In Figs. 4 and 5, a printing plate having projections'll, and a scanning card having perforations 1'7 representing the figure 365" are illustrated, but obviously I may provide plates and cards for any number of digits. In the plate and the card shown in Figs. 4 and 5, three groups of digits, each from 0 to 9, are provided for each digit of the figure, the .groups' being units, tens, and hundreds. Holes are marked below the digits of the several groups at 1'7, and the holes corresponding to 365 are punched at 17. 'Inthis manner all figures from 0 to 999 are obtained. correspondingly, the projections 11 are positioned on the plate 3.

In the diagram of connections, Fig. 6, for the plates and cards illustrated in Figs. -land 5, three I selector contacts 24' 26', etc. as shown by thedark v lines, each group of contacts 40 being connected with the selector group of the next higher order. The groups of contacts are connected in series, and their contacts are connected in parallel. The circuit of the control magnetand the magnet 35 for locking the feed of the cards, are indicated. The contacts that are closed for the figure 365 in the respective groups, are shown in dark lines, the 5 contacts in the units, the 6 contacts in the tens, and the 3 contacts in the hundreds groups being closed. The contacts, close the respective circuits of the magnets 8 and 35, as described. If the contacts 40 under the control of the printing plates 3, and the contacts 24, 26 under the control of the cards 6, do not agree at any point, the plate concerned will be fed through the machine but not printed.

Assume that at each operation 1,000 printing plates move through the machine in the sequence of their figures, 0 to 999, and are stored in-the supply hopper in the same order. The cards cor-" responding to the plates to be printed, the number of which is obviously less thanthat of the plates, are stored in the hopper 19 in the sequence of their figures or holes 1'7. When the machine is started the card with the lowest figure mustbe at the selector station 20, this being effected by starting the machine with the cards before the hopper, 2 is charged with the printing plates 3. If the first card for which an address is to be printed, is L56 the fifth plate is printed. If the next card is the its ninth, the 6th, 7th, and 8th printing plates are skipped, while the 9th card is arrested at the scanning station by the armature 34 locking the extension 28, until the ninth printing plate has arrived at the printing station 5, exciting the operating magnet 8 and releasing the extension- 28. This operation is repeated until all cards have been fed through themachine.

If more than 1000 printing plates are moved through the machine the printing plates only require three projections 11 for the last three digits,

and the cards require the same number of holes,

as it is practically impossible that 1000 cards will be missing between two succeeding cards. A selection of the plates by the thousands digits is not necessary.

' Referring now to Figs. '7 and 8, these illustrate a diagram of connections and a printing plate 3 in which instead of 30 positions for the projections 11 in a plate having a figure of three digits, only 21 are required. In this system, two projections are allotted to each group, one of them in front of the group, at y or .B, and the other above one of the digits 0 to 4 in the group. If the projections at are provided, the projection 11 within the corresponding group corresponds to the value indicated, for instance, 3 in the hundreds group. If the projections y are provided, the value is that indicated +5, as in the tens group where the projection 11 is above the value 1 but means 1+5=6, and in the units group, with the projection 11 at 0+5=5, making up the total 365.

In the diagram Fig. '7 the magnets 8 and 35, with their accessories, are shown together with the groupsof contacts 40 and 24, 26, D (units),

D" (tens), and D' (hundreds), the contacts here being marked with x, y and 0 to 4 for the contacts 40, and with 0 to 9 for the contacts. 24, 26. Each contact a: is combined with the five selector contacts 0 to 4, and each contact 3/ is combined with the five selector contacts 5 to 9. Each contact 40 is connected with two contacts 24, 26, the digits of which difier by 5, as 1 and 6 for the contact 1.

The contacts of the several groups are connected as in Fig. 6, and their circuit is connected with the operating magnet 8 and the contact 38 by a manually operated switch 50, 51. In the full-line position the switch connects the circuits while in the dot-and-dash line position it connects the magnet circuit with the printing-plates contacts 1' to 9 and a set of push buttons H, L, L and L" are the selectors of the several groups; the cards are the same as in Fig. 5. e

With the switch 50, 51 in the full-line position,

and assuming that the card 365 is at the selector station 20, the connections shown in dark lines are made. The control magnet 8 is excited, and the feeding mechanism, for the cards is released by the armature 34, as described.

The projections 11.may also be utilized for printing given plates selectively after the auto-' matic scanning device has been cutout. To this end the switch 50, 51 is thrown over into the dotand-dash line position, breaking the circuits of the contacts at D, D, D" and L, L, L" and connecting the operating magnet 8 with the system H.f By operating the push-buttons at 1' to 9' any desired plate may be printed.

Instead of separate cards a perforated strip might be fed through the machine.

In order to operate the machine at a uniform rate and to simplify its construction, I may insert dummy cards or strips between the perforated cards, or perforated reaches, so that the number of cards, or reaches, is of equal length as the total row of printing plates.

I may also perforate the cards throughout, that is, the active as well as the dummy cards, with holes corresponding to their figures, and provide an auxiliary scanning device by which only those cards are permitted to cause the control magnet to be excited which are able to operate the auxiliary scanning device by means of projections, tabs, plates for closing holes, etc.

I claim? 1. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, means operatively connected printing mechanism, contacts in said scanning device in series with said contacts of said selector, and means controlled by the cooperation of said contacts'for operating said printing mechanism, and said card-feeding means.

3. In an address-printing machine mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, means operatively connected with said mechanism for feeding plates and cards through said machine, supply hoppers for delivhaving ering plates and'cards to the respective feeding means, a scanning device operatively connected with said printing mechanism and adapted to be controlled by said cards, and means controlled by said scanning device and said selector for operating said printing mechanism, and said card-feeding means.

4. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, a printing arm which moves up and down, means operatively connected with said printing arm for feeding plates and cards through said machine, a scanning device operatively connected with said arm and adapted to be controlled by said cards, and means con-. trolled by said scanning device and said selector for operating said printing mechanism and said card-feeding means, said card-feeding ,means, said plate-feeding means and said scanning means being interconnected, so that said cards are fed during the descent of said printing arm and while said printing plates are at rest.

5. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, a printing arm which moves up and down, means operatively connected with said printing arm for .feeding plates and cards through said machine, a scanning arm which is so connected with said printing arm as to be lowered unto said cards when said printing arm rises, a scanning member on said scanning arm, 11.;

card-feeding means, a circuit. under the control of" said mechanism, and means in said circuit for arresting and releasing said card-feeding means.

6. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for' printing and a selector for-skipping printing plates, a printing arm which moves up and down, means operatively connected with said printing arm for feeding plates and cards through said machine, a scanning arm which is so connected with said printing arm as to be lowered unto-said cards when said printing arm rises, a scanning member on said scanning arm, resilient contacts on said scanning member adapted to becontrolled by said cards, ,means controlled by said contacts and said selector for operating said printing mechanism, and said card-feeding means, a circuit under the control of said mechanism, and means in'said circuit for arresting and releasing said card-feeding means and said scanning arm.

7. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, a printing arm which moves up and down, means operatively "connected with said printing arm for feeding plates andcards through said machine, a scanningarm which is so connected with said printing arm as to be lowered unto said cards when said printing arm rises, a scanning member on said scanning arm, resilient contacts on said scanning member adapted to be controlled by said cards, means controlled by said contacts and said selector for operating said printing mechanism, and said card-feeding means, a circuit under the control of said mechanism, an electromagnet in said circuit, and .an armature on said electromagnet in said scanni ning device.

adapted to arrest and to release said card-feeding means.

8. In an address-printing machine having mechanism for printing and a selector for skipping printing plates, means operatively connectmechanism for printing and a selector fortskipping plates, a set of ten contacts in said selector per digit of the figures printed by said plates, means operatively connected with said mechanism for feeding plates and cards through said machine, and a scanning device operatively connected with said printing mechanism, a contact v device for each contact in said selector, a primary circuit connected to the contacts of said selector and saidscanning means, said contacts being so arranged that the current in said primary circuit flows successively through the contacts in the sequence of the order of said digits, means connected to said primary circuit and controlled by said contacts for controlling said printing mechanism, a. secondary circuit connected to saidprimary circuit; and means controlled by said secondary circuit for controlling said card-feeding means and said scan- JOSEPH KRELL. 

